My CD/DVD drive has disapeared in windows?

[Rudyard]

I have had some odd things happen recently with components just dropping out and in the device manager they have exclamation marks next to them (soundcard, some ports, floppy drive etc)

I uninstalled them and reinstaled them and problem solved.

However the other day 2 more dropped out (a port which the reinstall fixed) along with my DVD drive, which is the only component I cant get running again.

If I uninstallit windows picks it up under new hardware and installs it again but it still has a yellow exclamation mark next to it and doesnt show up at all in my computer.

It says it has the best driver when I reinstall it (I cant find a driver on the net to try) and it appears in the BIOS so it is there in the computer so to speak and all the power functions properly. Virus/adware/spyware all come up clean.

Any advice on how to get it running again as I dont think it is actual hardware failure due to the similar happenings on other components recently.

Win XP SP2, drive is LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA 4020B

[Nelson37]

You could try using a boot disk in the optical drive to test functionality outside of Windows. But, IMO this is a nearly complete waste of time.

You have a much bigger problem, with some sort of major hardware flake going on. I would try testing with another power supply, just because it is simple, quick, and inexpensive to test. A windows re-install after removing ALL hardware in device manager, and/or a complete re-format, test or replace RAM chips, Safe Mode or diagnostic boot with MsConfig, simpllify or minimize hardware config, lots of avenues to test.

If it ain't power, RAM, corrupted Registry, or a flaky card, good odds the mobo is going bad. Optical drives don't need additional drivers, and rarely fail to recognize while still functional. In combination with multiple other hardware recognition errors, it is highly likely there is nothing at all wrong with the optical drive at all.

If nothing else had gone wrong, then working on fixing the CD problem would be the first step. However, you just do not have that situation.

[fritzi93]

One outside possibility in addition to the above, and not to contradict what Nelson37 says...

Before anything more drastic, try this first:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/

And this:

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

Good luck.

[RabidDog]

A micro possibility (happened to me frequently on a sata hard drive) was that my system was going into powersaving mode and when re-awoken my sata drive wasnt there. The only way to get it back, other than a re=boot, was to go into control Panel,disk drives, scan for hardware changes.
You might also have an Irq conflict, unlikely.
Possibly you are on a knife-edge with power and drains in one part of your system(gaming makes cpu_GPU Fan surge) are causing other devices to go off-line?
computer details help.

[bevills1]

Is the device seen in BIOS? If not, try unplugging, replugging or switching cables. I had this problem where my CD drive wasn't seen in Windows or BIOS, and unplugging and replugging cables fixed the problem.

[Nelson37]

Apparently nobody reads carefully.

It appears in the BIOS.

This PC is suffering MULTIPLE problems, the CD is a minor issue.

Moot point as apparently the OP is long gone.